


Up In Flames

by bisexualsinspacee (MelonBiskitQueen)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Death, Keith Week 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-29
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-18 13:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8163376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonBiskitQueen/pseuds/bisexualsinspacee
Summary: Keith Week: Day 4: Fire





	

“Everybody okay?” Shiro asked as he approached his team mates.

“Yes.” Everybody replied simultaneously.

“Uhhh. Guys? Where’s Keith?” asked Pidge.

Shiro turned from his team and looked back to where the burning Galra ship was. “Fuck.”

The strong smell of smoke filled Keith’s nose as he slowly gained consciousness. As he looked around to get a better idea of where he was memories of what had happened started to make themselves known.

**A Few Hours Earlier**

“Since we are about to enter a star system that has a lot of Galra activity we need to remain on high alert!” Coran announced to the Paladins in his very chipper way. “That means you need to stay by your lions at all times!”

“What? You’re kidding right?” Lance whined.

“No I’m actually quite serious. If we were to be attacked and none of you reached your lions in time we’d be in quite a bit of bother!” Coran replied. “That’s why we need you to stay close to your lions until we get out of the system! Wouldn’t want to get captured or killed, now would we?”

Before Lance could complain further Shiro placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Signalling to him that this was an argument he would not win. “Of course Coran.” Shiro said.

Once they were dismissed Keith didn’t waste anytime getting to his lion.

It must’ve been three to four hours before anything happened. During this period they had all waited inside their lions and talked about whatever popped into their minds.

It was mostly Lance and Hunk talking. They were talking about their families and what they missed most about Earth.

When Shiro and Pidge were talking it was mostly about Pidge’s family and ways to help Shiro try to remember what had happened, without triggering his PTSD.

Meanwhile Keith just sat there and listened. He might comment every now and then, but he was more than content to just listen.

The second the alarm sounded all talking stopped and the paladins left their hangars immediately. Keith was out of his hangar first and upon exiting it that’s when he saw it. Before them, exiting a planet’s orbit, was a Galra warship.

Keith had seen Galra warships before, hell they all had thanks to Sendak. Just from looking at Keith knew that this one was a helluva lot bigger than Sendak’s. They were going to have their work cut out for them.

“Keith, Lance. I need you to take out the canons on that ship. Keith, you take the right half. Lance, you take the left. Alright?”

“You got it.” Keith replied as he got his lion into position.

“Wanna race Keith? See who can take their side out first?”

Keith rolled his eyes. This was one of the things that irritated him most about Lance. Here they were, about to destroy the cannons on a ship they had never gone up against before, and Lance wanted to turn it into a game.

“No. I do not, Lance.” If they were training then hell yes! Of course Keith would race him, but this wasn’t training. This was legit and any messing about could kill them. And Keith wasn’t looking to die today.

“You’re just saying that cause you know you’ll lose!” Lance chimed.

“I’m really not.” Keith replied as he began to fly towards the starboard side of the ship, ignoring Lance’s taunting.

As he began to pick up speed Red gave Keith an idea on how to take out the canons nice and fast. Keith smiled. Sure they had only done this once before, but if Red thought it was a good idea then so did he. “Alright, Red. Ready?”

Once they were within firing range of the canons Red opened her jaw and fired her lava canon, which melted the canons, as the passed, as well as cutting into the ship slightly.

As they ascended and spun round for another pass Keith spotted Lance using the same exact tactic, but with Blue’s ice cannons.

Keith was in the middle of his second pass when Allura came into their comms. “Paladins, stop attacking that ship!”

As Keith pulled away from the ship and joined the others Shiro asked what they were all thinking. “What’s wrong Allura?”  

“The Castle’s scanner has picked up life forms that are not Galra on that ship. Possible prisoners from the planet below. Our main concern should be getting them out.” Allura explained.

“Well we should probably do it fast since it’s kind of on fire.” Pidge pointed out.

“No time to lose then.” Shiro responded.

The paladins quickly made their way down towards the ship once more to find an entrance while Keith beat himself up over it. It was his fault that the ship was burning. If he and Red hadn’t used the lava cannon then they would have plenty of time to save these potential prisoners rather than having to race against the clock.

“Hey Keith. It’s not your fault. Remember that okay?” Shiro’s voice said, coming over the comm system and bringing him out of his thoughts.

“I’ll try to.” Keith replied. He knew Shiro was right. When wasn’t Shiro right? None of them had been aware when Keith and Lance had been sent down to destroy the defenses. Even though he knew this it still didn’t help him not to blame himself.

As he passed the starboard side once more that’s when Keith saw it. The perfect entrance. Where the lava canon had cut into the ship there was a hole big enough of his lion and, hopefully, the others. He alerted them about it before heading in by himself.

As he entered the ship the damaged was more than clear to him. From the outside it didn’t look like it was too badly on fire. The inside was a completely different story.

Anything that was flammable was ablaze. Galra included.

Once Keith was out of his lion he immediately began to head further into the ship.

As he sprinted through the corridors, looking for these possible prisoners, he didn’t waste anytime on the soldiers that attempted to stop his search. If he had to engage Keith made sure it didn’t last long. He would either dodge them and continue running past them or he’d push one into the others, causing them to stumble or fall over, and then continue on his way.

He was running across one of the ship’s hangars when a soldier skidded in front of him. Keith managed to stop himself from running into the soldier and began to size him up.

The soldier, like all Galra, was a fair bit taller than Keith however, unlike other Galra, this one was a lot more muscular and didn’t use the same weapons. Rather than having a sword or gun this soldier had a morning star.

Keith sighed. He really didn’t have time for this, it was a race against the clock after all, but something told him that he wasn’t going to be able to get past this guy like he had done with the others. Keith was being forced to fight.

 _‘Fine, let’s see if we can’t finish this in record time’_ Keith thought to himself as he got his bayard out.

As the fight dragged on it wasn’t long before the fire had entered the hangar. The more smoke that filled the hangar the more oxygen that left so Keith was beginning to feel a little lightheaded. As was the soldier. He could tell as the soldier was getting clumsier and slower with each swing of his morning star.

On top of the oxygen running out, the hangar was also becoming unbearably hot. So much so that sweat was now dripping into Keith’s eyes, burning them as well as making it damn near impossible to see.

Keith was about to make another swipe with his sword at the soldier when it happened. One of the ships that was still docked came crashing down from it’s dock and crushed the soldier.

After recovering from the shock of the event Keith put his bayard away and began to look for an exit. Due to the thick smoke in the room, Keith had activated his helmet’s breather at this point so he didn’t need to crawl,  he didn’t realise that he was walking right next to the ship docks. By the time he did realise another one of the ships was already slipping from its dock and came crashing down towards him. Keith attempted to get out of the way, but as it hit the floor everything for him went black.

**Present Time**

Now that he was fully conscious Keith became aware of a horrible pain in his right leg. Looking and reaching to figure out why it was hurting it came clear to Keith what had happened once that ship had come crashing down.

It had hit his leg which must’ve caused him to fall and hit his head on the floor which had knocked him unconscious. Now that he was aware of what was on his leg he could also feel the crushing pain of it.

As he laid there, looking up at the ceiling of smoke, it dawned on him. This was it. He was trapped on a burning Galra warship that could blow up any minute now and there was no hope that his team would find him.

Keith closed his eyes and, while he waited for it all to end, thought about those he was leaving behind. Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Allura, Coran, Shiro and Red. Was Red still on board? Did it even matter if Red was still on that ship? She was a metal lion and unlike Keith he was pretty sure that Red would survive this ship blowing up.

He was about to lose consciousness again when he felt the weight on his leg disappear. Opening his eyes and sitting up Keith saw why the weight was gone and smiled. Somehow, someway Red had managed to reach him. “Good kitty.” he said hoarsely. “Now how about we get out of here?”

Before Keith even had a chance to attempt to stand Red did the same exact thing that she had done when he’d found her. She swallowed him.

Now back in the pilot seat of his lion Keith went to use the controls when she spoke to him for the second time that day. Red was telling him to rest, that she would take it from here. Doing what his lion had asked of him Keith removed his helmet and trusted Red to get them out.

As they burst from the ship Keith spotted the others racing towards them. Naturally he wanted to head for them however Red had other ideas. Rather than heading for the other lions and their paladins Red headed straight for the Castle.

Once Coran had patched Keith up, apparently the injuries weren’t as severe as they had looked so he didn’t need to go into the cryopod to heal, he advised that Keith should rest for the next couple of days. Leave everything to everyone else.

He didn’t bother arguing about that. After everything that had happened, both today and previous days, Keith was glad to have a couple days of rest.


End file.
